Blog #5 Are We the Tracks?

“If we do not get out sleepers, and forge rails, and devote days and nights to the work, but go to tinkering upon our lives to improve them, who will build railroads? And if railroads are not built, how shall we get to heaven in season? But if we stay at home and mind our business, who will want railroads? We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us,” said, Thoreau. This makes perfect sense. I did not live in the era where there were no railroads, but I can imagine how difficult it would be to travel without them.  We should mind our own business and that is half of society’s problem. We are so involved in the newest trends, technology, and other countries problems that if we actually just observed and mind our business this world might be a little different. As far as the railroad rides on us and we do not ride on it, yes! Very True! We let business corporations, the internet, and social media consume us. This reminds of the book Feed. In some aspect just like Titus and the rest of the crew, we are being processed certain information all the time.  We continue to let big business make trillions of dollars. We continue to let the internet pop-up advertisements. We continue to let twitter and Facebook distract us and consume valuable hours.

 So yes! The railroad rides all over our bodies because at the end of the day we do nothing but to continue to lay more tracks for business corporations to keep making money, for the internet to keep selling us products, and for social networks to advance and continue to steal time away from us.

Blog #4 The Dumbest?

Are we the Dumbest Generation? Hmmmmm…well, I can honestly say after reading Bauerlein’s article and watching the interview, he has a point. People may dislike my opinion, but I agree with him, to a certain extent. As part of the generation where we use the most technology, in the long it makes us smart in some aspects, but for the most part it does not require us to think much. Technology such as cell phones, computers, IPods, and other devices are great inventions, but if something were to happen and they all were destroyed we would go back to using paper, pencil, and face-to-face communication. When it comes to our generation I understand that we may think that Bauerlein is stereotyping us because he calls us dumb. However, I do think countless people in this generation are lazy and ignorant. We all sit in some classes and wonder why we take this class because it will not help us in the long run. Yet, we never know where we may end up life where you might have learned something useful in an anthropology class that can help you. Yes, our generation is different from the generation before us, but it will always be that way. History helps make the future. How will we know what to do differently or try different approaches if we do not learn from our past?

In the video with the Miss North Carolina, I consider her dumb.  She had no clue what she was talking about when it came to geography. She made herself personal look like a complete fool. Either way I think Bauerlein is just trying to get us to notice that education and the lack of commitment to our education is a problem. He blames his colleagues and society for not helping, and I agree. In class someone made a statement saying it is not their fault if they were not taught it either. I agree it is not their fault, but that does not mean that they cannot take the initiative to learn and pass it on. So the dumbest generation? Maybe! I would ultimately change the word dumb to just simply DIFFERENT.

Blog #3 Real or Virtual?

In Culture Jams, Lasn says, “life has become an alien landscape." It actually has. The natural world does not seem as real to society as it used to be. People are so caught up in the virtual and unrealistic things in life that they cannot even enjoy the beauty of real life. Going hiking and socializing seems unreal because people are more interested in technology and not things that will continue to help stimulate their mind. Frankly, it seems like the real world seems rather foreign to us, which is ridiculous. We are like aliens to our own planet. It seems as though society operates better in virtual world rather than reality. 

When it comes to the documentary Second Skin, the question arises if virtual relationships operate in the real world? From Lasn’s point of view about the world being an alien landscape, it would seem as though it is possible. However, I strongly disagree that they can operate in the real world. Now if you are speaking in terms of online dating then yes it is a possibility, but overall it does not. Anyone can have a virtual relationship, but would you consider it an actual relationship. Things such as games are virtually made because they cannot be real. That is the whole point. If virtual became the real world, there would be no need for anything to be virtual and imaginative. When things are not real, it provides people to think so they can have an imagination. A virtual relationship is also an imaginative relationship; it only became real again when the people first met in person. Now people may ask what is the difference between this in Facebook? We’ll most of the time, people know some of their friends before they branch out and start accepting people they do not know. In this virtual relationship in the game World of Warcraft, they did not even know each other, they started liking each other based off of what they may have had in common in the game and flirting. So back to the question about virtual relationships operating in the real world, I still say no.

The person on the virtual game is not exactly the same person in real life. They create themselves as a beautiful person and better looking. Now I’m not saying they are not attractive in real life, but in the game they make themselves look like an image of perfection, because you are able to do so, rather you’re a man or a woman. No one is perfect, so they may be giving the person they are flirting with the false assumption that they are more gorgeous than there character on their game. They may have a beautiful heart, but there physical appearance may not be what they think it is. So yes we live in an alien landscape and try to put ourselves into a virtual world where we can be anyone we want, but at the end of the day we return to reality and away from the virtual world. So no, virtual relationships will not operate in the real world.

Blog #2 McDonald’s or Christian Cross?

In the documentary Fast Food Nation by Eric Scholsser, it was shocking to see how more children can identify the McDonald's arch sign rather than a church cross. I ask myself is it because Church is not publicized more? Advertisements and values seem to have a lot to do with this situation. McDonald’s have countless commercials on television, on the side of buses, coupons in the paper, and broadcast on the radio. Whereas church is only heard on the radio, on television when most people are asleep, and when people actually attended church. So would children be able to identify more crosses if church was on during the day for kids to watch? That’s a possibility, but I doubt children would still be able to identify the cross, especially depending upon the age of the child. They might not even understand the concept of church. Either way you look at this problem it is still sad.

As I think about the video and when the children were shown a picture of Ronald McDonald, they were able to identify him. However, when shown a picture of Jesus they had no clue of who he was. Yet, it is not the children’s fault about whom or what they identify.  McDonald’s is simply part of their surroundings. Not saying church is not either, but it seems if you look at certain areas all over the United States, there are probably more McDonald’s on a corner than churches. So what does that say about our society? Obviously we value food more than religion. Of course food is a wonderful thing; who does not like to eat greasy, fat food, which clogs your arteries and makes you gain weight?

I guess people do not think about that until after they gain the weight. Anyway, I wonder if there is any way for children to identify the cross more than the McDonald’s arch sign. The solution could be to tell them about Jesus, the bible, and take them to church. Or do we have to take rationally measures and advertise everywhere, just like McDonald’s, giving out coupons in the newspaper to have a free dinner plate after church service. That just does not seem right! We as a society have to not give into the value of food so much, that it overshadows religion. So if your child is identifying McDonald’s arch signs more than the church cross, what do you plan to do? Stop at the church and explain the cross or drive by the church and go across the street to McDonald’s because you want a big mac?

                                

The Introduction of Me

Hey Everyone!! My name is Chanel Young, but some people like to call me “Nelly.” I am a sophomore here at Shippensburg University. I am from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the place of “Brotherly Love.” My interest is that I like to go shopping, bake cakes, sing, and go bowling. I am majoring in psychology and will be minoring in early childhood education. What interested me in this class is that my roommate had this class with the same teacher and said she enjoyed it. Since I have to take intro to literature anyway, I thought that I should take a class that I will enjoy. The last book I read was called Smack by Melvin Burgess. This was a really good book.

The type of music I am interested in is R&B, Hip-Hop, and Gospel. I mostly enjoy R&B such as Beyoncé, Trey Songz, Chris Brown, and Alicia Keys. I love comedy and action movies. As for TV, I mostly watch reality TV. My favorite channels are VH1 and MTV. I watch Basketball wives, Single Ladies, The Real World and many other shows. I do not play video games that often, but when I do play I like Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero, and Grand Theft Auto. I tried to play Madden 2010, 2K, and Call of Duty, but I was not very good when I tried.

My past experiences reading literature is reading Hamlet, Little Women, The Stranger, Animal Farm, Metamorphosis, and Maya Angelou “Phenomenal Woman. What Literature means to me is a collection of books, novels, poems, short stories, essays, and plays were a reader can be engaged and understanding what the author was trying to express. Even if the reader does not fully understand the text, as long as he or she is able to take a piece of the written work and may be able to relate to an experience is literature to me.